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Father's Day/Sunday Dinner Recipe

Thursday, June 21, 2012

This is by far one of my family's all time favorite meals.I'm sure I say that a lot, but they are pretty easy to please. And this dish doesn't disappoint!

I made it on Sunday for Father's Day.

I got this recipe a little over a year ago on The Pioneer Woman'swebsite. If you've never made a Ree Drummond recipe, you must be living underneath a rock. Or maybe you're just on a diet. Because Ree's recipes are not for anyone watching their weight or with a fear of using too much butter or heavy cream. Her food is delicious, savory, and what I like to call "rib sticking." Lots of meat & potatoes type of stuff that would make any man happy and full. Sounds perfect for my husband and kids!

(My camera was malfunctioning for the first few steps, so bear with me while I skip a few pictures in the first steps!)

To start, you'll need a good chuck roast. Find one with some good marbling. You don't want a super lean cut of meat here. A beautifully marbled chuck roast will cook up nice & tender and should melt in your mouth by the time you're done cooking it.

Next, you'll need some carrots, an onion (I forgot mine!), a large dutch oven or pot that can be used on the stove top and in the oven, olive oil, kosher salt & pepper.

Heat up your dutch oven with a couple tablespoons of olive oil. Let it get really hot. Your pan might start smoking a little bit, so crack a window. Peel & quarter your onion. Toss it in the pan for about a minute on each side. They should sizzle & pop & brown up real nicely. Then remove them from the pan & place in a large bowl or on a plate. Scrub (don't peel) the carrots & cut them up roughly. Toss them around in the pan until all of the sides get nice & browned. Then remove those & put them on the plate with the onions.

(Again, I forgot to buy onion!)

Next, add a little more oil to the pan & let it get hot again. Now salt & pepper your chuck roast. Don't be afraid to season it! You wanna salt that baby really well & add as much fresh ground pepper as you like. Then place it in the dutch oven and sear each side for about 1 minute, or until it's nice and browned.

Then remove the roast & place it on the plate with the veggies. Your pan should look like this:

Next, you're going to deglaze the pan. You want to get all of those tasty bits off the bottom of the pan. Add about 2 or 3 cups of beef broth and use a whisk to get all of the stuck on stuff off the bottom of the pan.

After deglazing, you're ready to put the roast & veggies back in the pan. Place the roast in the middle, and add the carrots & onions evenly around the edges. The broth should cover the roast about halfway.

Then it's time to add some fresh herbs. Do not skip this part. The fresh herbs play a critical role in this recipe. They really make the meal! Add a couple sprigs of fresh thyme.

Don't you love my polish? OPI's "It's All Greek To Me."

And then add a few sprigs of fresh rosemary. Now, I was very annoyed at the fact that I went to three different grocery stores and all of them were completely out of fresh rosemary. So I had to settle for the dried kind. That's OK, but fresh is definitely preferred.

Make sure you tuck the herbs down into the broth so that everything can really soak up the flavor.

Then put the lid on your dutch oven & place it into your preheated 275 degree oven. That's it. Do not disturb your pot roast while it is cooking! Cooking time will vary depending on your roast size, but you want to cook it extra long to make sure it's really tender.

Now about an hour before your roast is done you'll want to start your mashed potatoes.

These are not just any ordinary mashed potatoes.

These are the most delicious, creamy, rich, mouth watering mashed potatoes you will ever have in your entire life. No joke. I can not go back to making "regular" mashed potatoes after this. No way. These are a staple item in my kitchen now!

I started by boiling about 7 large potatoes. That's the perfect amount for my little family of 4, and we usually end up with enough to have leftovers the next day.

Drain the potatoes & mash those babies up.

Next, you're going to add your arsenal of fattening ingredients. The recipe calls for half & half (I use 2% milk instead), butter, cream cheese, salt, pepper, & seasoned salt (whatever kind you prefer). I like this one that my sister in law sends me from Montana...it's really good on popcorn too!

Now, I don't measure any of my ingredients here. I just eyeball/taste test it. I had to adjust the recipe a few times to get it perfect, but it's going to vary depending on how many potatoes you have to cook for your family size. (and trust me, throw in a couple extras so you can have leftovers. You'll want a second helping).

I think I used about 1/3 C of milk, 1/2 stick of REAL butter, 1/3-1/2 block of cream cheese, and a ton of salt, pepper, and seasoned salt.

Keep in mind, you do not want to just lightly salt & pepper these. You are going to salt the crap out of these because you aren't topping them with gravy or anything. They are delicious all on their own, so do not be afraid to "over" salt & pepper them. You want them really flavorful, so do not under season!

Normally, you'd be done here. And you can be, but here's where the extra yummy part comes in. I like to make mine a little beforehand because I bake them. Put them in a casserole dish, add a couple extra pats of butter (if your thighs/butt can take it), cover with foil, and place them in the oven with your pot roast for the last half hour or so that it's cooking. You can even uncover them if you'd like and they'll brown up a little bit. Perfect. Plus, this ensures that everything is hot & ready at the same time.

I let my roast cook for about 5 hours. It was probably "done" after about 2 1/2 (it was a small, 2lb roast). But you want it to really cook for a while so it will get nice & tender. This one looks perfect.

Time to dish up!

Here's my 7 year old's dinner plate. It's his absolute favorite meal that I make. He calls it "roast beast" like from How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Roast beast is the best.

First bite.

Oh yeah, he says the potatoes are perfect.

Here's my plate. The roast turned out tender and delicious. I would actually have to say that I think the carrots are my favorite part of the meal. The fresh herbs make them so delicious!

My little guy was hungry.

And I think I taste tested the potatoes a few too many times while I was mashing them, because I couldn't finish my dinner. Ayden had to help me :)

My little lady was a grouchy girl and fell asleep on the couch, so I don't have any pictures of her beautiful face eating one of her favorite dinners. I made her a little plate, put it in the fridge for later, and she devoured it in about 5 minutes after waking up.

Also, if you'll notice, one crucial thing is missing from our Father's Day dinner. Daddy!!! Yep, he was working late, per usual. He sure is a hard worker! But he ate 2 big plates of pot roast, taters, & carrots as soon as he got home. He said thanks :)

I hope you guys try out this delicious recipe. Your family won't be disappointed!

And happy belated Father's Day to all of the amazing daddies out there. I am so thankful for my hunky husband/super dad. He's the best.